>> this is ""bbc world news america." assassinated in afghanistan, president karzai's brother is killed. who will fill kyushu's? former prime minister gordon brown accuses a media organization of breaking the law. treasures of the earth's, while china may have a monopoly on rare earth materials, the u.s. and of -- the u.s. is leading fast to catch up. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america around the globe. it was a brutal attack in of dennis than that claimed the

life of hamid karzai's half- brother. ahmad wali karzai, the head of the kandahar provincial council was accused of being devolved in the drug trade and dealing with the taliban. the taliban is claiming responsibility for the assassination which has opened up a power vacuum. >> he describes himself as the most powerful men in southern afghanistan. few disagreed. ahmad wali karzai was a controversial figure. in kandahar today, the walls of sight of his compound were closed. the president's half brother lived under the tightest security. only the closest could get close. without saying a word, he shot him twice.

he welcomed president sarkozy of france. he said, this morning, my younger brother was murdered -- martyred. this is the life of afghan people. we have all suffered the same kind of pain. forgive me for not speaking with a smile today. ahmad wali karzai was said to be deeply involved with the heroin trade. the allegations strained relations with afghanistan's allies. in april, he told a bbc documentary crew about attempts on his life. >> are there still now? >> every day. >> drug traffickers? >> taliban. >> ahmad wali karzai came close

to being charged with corruption. according to a u.s. official, he was too valuable. here in kabul, the have lost a strong man in the fight against the taliban in the south. >> for more on to de's assassination and the power vacuum believes, we have a former executive for "the washington post." >> a key strong men in this area has been ahmad wali karzai. a few days ago i was talking to the senior coalition man in kandahar. he has been such a problem for the u.s. and the coalition, a corrupt warlord.

he was the key to bringing tribal leaders in to some stability. >> it backs the question, why does the qatada and kill those that work so closely with them? -- taliban kill those that work so closely with them? >> it is possible that there is some feud that we do know about. the assassin of was an elder from his village. this could be a very complicated dispute. one factor has been knocked away. >> it raises the challenges of trying to create stability in this area. will it have any affect on plans

to withdraw u.s. troops? >> no. it will show the effects of the u.s. and the coalition allies throughout the area. many prominent people have been killed in kandahar in the north. tracking those people as an extremely difficult. this adds to the feeling of stability. >> is the threat to these key political figures growing? >> the numbers are about the same as last year. the most powerful police chief warlord in the north was recently assassinated. that sent shivers in the north.

but it gave us the sense of vulnerability. the people that were charged with providing this seem to be here. >> thank you very much for joining us. now to the hacking scandal which continues in britain. but those even further. after gordon brown claimed in an interview that the "sunday times" also part of the murdoch empire hire criminals to obtain the information. there is some flash photography. >> here is gordon that downing street with rupert's starter next to him and the top editor on the right. for years, team brown stayed close to t murdoch. no more. peace miles fell away.

gordon brown accused them and their newspaper of using criminals to investigate his private life. >> some were getting information from my lawyers. like a tax attorney said that medical records have been broken into. i do not tell how all of this happened. in two instances, there is absolute proof that news international, was involved in hiring people to get this information. ith people that the work wa our criminals. >> this is the editor of "the sunday times." in a statement tonight, they believe ethanol law was broken,

no criminal was used edie story was published giving both sides of the hearing. he attacked the way it reported that his youngest son was suffering from cystic fibrosis. the revelation was not legitimate. they left him -- >> in tears. that is done something to be broadcast across the media. sarah and i were upset about his long-term future. >> the story originated from a member whose family also experienced cystic fibrosis. above all, mr. brown accused of news international of having an agenda against him. that one is the bbc and the

media regulator off of the reforms. >> all of these papers will be there for people to see. that will show that we stood up to news international. we refused to support the commercial ambitions when we thought they were against the public interest. >> mr. brown has now widened the attack of newspapers within the group. that is being brought home by labour's current leader. they are calling for rupert murdoch to withdraw his bid. they will have the option to say knows to news corp.. if they agreed to appear next week.

>> there has been fresh violence in northern ireland tonight. there was an attempt to prevent the nationalists to prevent marches. tens of thousands of younis -- unionists turned out for the march. the founder of the websites wikileaks has begun the appeal of his extradition from britain to sweden. he said that the case against him was politically motivated after his website published tens of thousands of american cables last year. russia has than observing a day of mourning after as many as 110 people died after a boat sank. a tourist boat sank on sunday.

contagion, it is the work that is driving fear throughout the financial market. fears about the stability of spain and italy drove shares lower. that is all happening against the backdrop of the meeting of euro zone finance ministers to discuss a second bailout of greece. >> europe's debt crisis spread dangerously far today to the third and biggest economy in the bureau's own. the interest rates and charges to borrow money have been rising. spain also faced similar pressure. two huge economies being rattled by the greek debt crisis. they gathered, not to officially discuss in italy.

there used to be an assumption that this bank a country uses a euro, when lending to that country is safe. they are worried that they might not care about all of the money that they lent to greece. they might be rethinking the way they lend to countries that are heavily in debt. >> sorting of greece is crucial. finance minister say that they have now agreed to work quickly on a second bailout for greece. they said that they would increase the size of the rescue mission -- rescue mechanism currently in place. >> we have made significant progress yesterday. i am certain that shortly we

will be able to present the concrete proposals so that we cannot take concrete decisions. >> that is an admission of how much working to be done. there are serious disagreements within europe about how to help greece. other countries are being dragged into the process. >> i and joined by the economic international editor. portugal, ireland, greece, spain, no italy has then dragged into the financial mess. >> the funny thing about italy is that it is good compared to greece. the deficit at the moment is running quite low.

it is not having the problems that irish banks were having. there tends to be a policy drift in the bureau's own as a whole. -- euro zone. at times like this, when investors are panicking, all of the peripheral countries of the year as of now, the dutch discriminate. >> you are saying that italy is better able to weather the storm? >> it is able to fund itself reasonably well. not have to spend a lot of money rebuilding the spanking system. you have the prime minister in open war with the finest -- finance minister. >> seems almost every week we

are getting news of another crisis hitting another european country. huerta you think this contagion is going to spread? >> italy and spain are the big ones. it is impossible for the rest of the euro zone. it is too big. you would have to end up with the european central bank owning an enormous chunk. it becomes really serious. that looks like possibilities. the euro zone is running a out of countries to finance. >> turning to this country, here in the states, congress has its

own budget crisis. if it does, what impact is the point to have on world markets? it is ironic that the u.s. is the most creditworthy countries in the world. that is almost voluntarily, the cutting default when it does the have to. if it did, that would create chaos throughout the global financial system. >> thank you very much for joining us. you are watching "bbc world news america." rare world elements are rare. u.s. is seeking a production into high gear. in moscow today, the celebrations were under way for

the anniversary of the cathedral. on the edge of rex -- that of red square, it has then restored to its glory. >> the unique, st. basil's cathedral. bill during the era of ivan the terrible. when it was finished, he ordered the eyes of the architect of a couch out so that he could not build anything more beautiful. -- gauged out so he could not build anything more beautiful. 450 years old today, st. basil's is fortunate to still be here. in 1812, napoleon tried to blow it up. a century later, the communists seized power.

saint basil survive. that has seen its all from been and's funeral, too patriotic red square parades. it's still communist coup in 1991. russia's most famous landmark has seen in 8 million pounds facelift. that has taken 10 years to fill in the cracks and restore the building to its original beauty. we have used the latest technology to make st. basil's look as good as new. after all, russia is not russia without this cathedral. czar ivan may have been terrible, but he built a church that remains the symbol of russia.

>> that has been six months since the uprising in tunisia brought down the government and sparked protests from throughout the arab world. many people are still trying to flee the redigion. many are fleeing to europe. >> in the darkness, the boat was hard to make out. there were 300 people on board. another boat, all heading for the italian border. this is an african exodus that has followed the air of spring. these boats? came in recent days are all from the libyan capital. for the 30-hour crossing, the migrants are packed in a tight.

this drove the boat people to flee for europe. many said that they were escaping the conflict. >> why did you leave libya? >> no food. >> he cracked down. they are bombing everywhere. that's why i'm here. >> this man also hinted at being put on the boat by authorities. mrs. is a question of whether to adopt the would unleash a large wave of illegal immigration in

europe. in the first few months after the haram spring began, most of the migrants came from tunisia. back in the early months of this year, there were 50,000 phoenicians. they were mainly an economic migrants. their numbers were unsettled. they began questioning your's policy of open borders. we caught up to some of them on a piece of wise land in the french capital. some were living rough. all of them said they wanted to return to tunisia. he said that without papers, it was impossible to find work. many of them paid the smugglers to come here. >> they had a dream and the

dream is not coming true. >> young men travel with hope. showing off hands eager for work. europe with 20 million people out of work can be a hard place to invest your dreams. >> we will have more on the effects of the arab spring tomorrow. raw materials like oil are being regarded as strategic assets. rare earth elements are important as well. the problem is that the elements can only be found in a few parts in the world. with 97% of them produced in china, america is reviving its goal mines. >> in a dusty mine in the

mojave desert, america is thinking for its future. this can be found in very few places. a rare earth elements, essential high-tech building blocks. >> we have done enough to echo rich and to know that it will last at least 30 years. >>this mine closed 10 years ago. it is viable again. >> china is producing 97% of what the world needs. they are starting to consume more of their rare earth, and they're starting to let less of them be exported. we are looking at shortages this year and next year. these mines are trying to get up and running. >> this is what they are digging for.

each of these sacks is worth well over 100,000 pounds. it then gets turned into a metal. our tv set needs it. they are essential. the latest generation of the wind turbines and look for -- to work much better. the future of affordable green technology depends on these elements. that affect american security. >> we should be boring when any country completely dominates and the rug -- raw material supplies. i do not think that china is uniquely at fault. they are using the political advantage.

>> as technology changes the world, the men for more natural resources could be important. >> perform rare elements on earth to a rare flight in space. a pair of astronauts floated up side of the space station on a repair mission on the space station atlantis before it heads back to earth. it is due back on july 21, marking v end of an era in nasa. you can always find a constant updates on our website. to see what we are working on, check out our facebook page. thank you for watching and see you here tomorrow.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

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